Centering Techniques
     The first aspect of centering involves a simple focus on the rate of breathing and maintaining a slow, steady pace. Breathe in through the nose, and feel the air fill your lungs. Exhale through your mouth. It may help to have a key word (mantra) to repeat that helps you refocus on what you want to do. For example, 'relax,' or 'steady.'
     In order to do this automatically when you need it most (during the stress of competition or training) you must practice it often.
Use your training sessions to try out various centering techniques and find the best one for you. Refocus and get 'centered' at every break, rest period or when there is a pause in the action.
     The goal of this process is to keep you in the present, help you drop any baggage you carry about anxiety, expectations, or 'what-ifs.' If you develop an automatic relaxation response it will change the way you feel about what you are doing and you will have less stress, enjoy performing and as a result, have more success.

Imagery can improve performance
     Many athletes use visualization techniques routinely as a part of training. There is evidence that this technique provides not only a competitive edge, but a renewed mental awareness and sense of well-being. Visualization has also been called guided imagery, mental rehearsal, meditation, and a host of new names. Generally speaking, visualization is the process of creating a mental image or intention, of what you want to happen or to feel.
     By imagining a scene, complete with images or movies, of a previous best performance or a new desired outcome, the athlete will simply 'step into' that feeling. While imagining these scenarios, the athlete should try to imagine the detail and the way it feels to perform in the desired way. These images can be visual (images and pictures), kinesthetic (how the body feels), or auditory (the roar of the crowd). Using the mind, an athlete can call up these images over and over, enhancing the skill through repetition or rehearsal, similar to physical practice. With mental rehearsal, minds and bodies become trained to actually perform the skill imagined.
     Both physical and psychological reactions in certain situations can be improved with such visualization. Such repeated imagery can build both experience and confidence in an athlete's ability to perform certain skills under pressure, and in a variety of possible situations. The most effective visualization techniques result in a very vivid sport experience in which the athlete has complete control over a successful performance and a belief in this new 'self.'
     In a world where sports performance and success is measured in one hundredths of a second, visualization is used by many to gain that very slim margin.